| Independently reported | |
| Presidential figure (2023) | Almost 2 million Indonesians going abroad for treatment, stated by President Joko Widodo[1] |
|---|---|
| Destinations in that figure | Malaysia about 1 million and Singapore 750,000, with the rest to Japan, the United States, Germany and other countries[1] |
| Money figure | Rp 165 trillion in lost foreign exchange revenue, attributed by the president to capital outflow[1] |
| Ministerial figure (2021) | About 600,000 Indonesians travelling to other ASEAN countries for medical check-ups, citing consultancy data[2] |
| Earlier consultancy estimates | SGD 800 million a year in Singapore and MYR 160 million a year in Malaysia, from a 2009 report[2] |
| Stated cause | Not enough specialist or sub-specialist doctors, according to the president[1] |
| Policy response | More hospital beds, especially in eastern Indonesia, and better service quality and equipment[2] |
| This entry has no primary-record band. No Indonesian government statistical publication was read directly: both headline figures are ministerial and presidential statements reported in the press, they differ by more than a factor of three, and they do not measure the same thing. The president’s figure is for all treatment abroad while the minister’s is for medical check-ups within ASEAN, and neither is a published statistical series. No typical cost range is given. | |
Medical tourism in Indonesia is above all an outbound story, and the Indonesian government has treated it as a national economic problem rather than only a health one. In March 2023 President Joko Widodo said almost 2 million Indonesians still travelled abroad for treatment, costing Rp 165 trillion in lost foreign exchange. Fifteen months earlier the health minister had put the figure at about 600,000. The two numbers measure different things and are both official.
The presidential figure
Speaking on 6 March 2023 during an impromptu visit to Mayapada Hospital in Bandung, West Java, to inspect its facilities and equipment, President Joko Widodo said he was informed that almost 2 million Indonesians still go abroad for treatment when they are sick. The figure was reported as covering 2023, with about 1 million going to Malaysia and 750,000 to Singapore and the remainder to Japan, the United States, Germany and other countries. He put the cost at Rp 165 trillion in lost foreign exchange revenue, which he attributed to capital outflow. He said the hospital had qualified facilities and buildings but that there are still not enough specialist doctors or sub-specialist doctors, and that he had asked the health minister to address this.[1]
The internal arithmetic holds: 1 million plus 750,000 leaves roughly 250,000 for everywhere else, which is consistent with almost 2 million. The attribution does not. A president stating that he is informed of a figure, at an unscheduled hospital visit, is not citing a statistical release, and no published Indonesian series supporting the number was located.[1]
The framing of Rp 165 trillion as lost foreign exchange revenue caused by capital outflow is worth noting as a framing. It treats citizens buying healthcare abroad as a balance of payments leakage rather than as patients obtaining care they could not get at home, and that is the frame in which Indonesian policy on this subject has been set.
The ministerial figure
On 13 December 2021 Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said healthcare reforms were expected in part to reduce the number of citizens going abroad for treatment, so that, in his words, there would not be 600,000 Indonesians going to other ASEAN countries just to have medical check-ups. He cited data from the consultancy PwC for that figure; no year for the data was given. The measures named were increasing hospital bed numbers, especially in eastern Indonesia, and improving the quality of medical services and equipment, with no numerical targets.[2]
The same report cites a 2009 Frost and Sullivan report estimating that Indonesians spent 800 million Singapore dollars a year on healthcare in Singapore and 160 million Malaysian ringgit a year in Malaysia over the preceding three years, and describing total outbound medical spending as costing the country hundreds of millions of United States dollars a year in lost business.[2]
Reconciling the two
The gap between 600,000 and almost 2 million is not necessarily a contradiction, and the difference in what each counts explains most of it. The minister’s figure is specifically Indonesians travelling to other ASEAN countries for medical check-ups, which is a narrow category: a subset of destinations and a subset of purposes. The president’s figure covers going abroad for treatment generally, including Japan, the United States and Germany.
Even so, two problems remain. The two statements are fifteen months apart and neither cites a published Indonesian series, so a reader cannot tell whether the difference reflects definitions, growth, or two separate estimates of unknown provenance. And the one figure with a named source, the minister’s, is attributed to a private consultancy rather than to a government statistical agency, while the Singapore and Malaysia spending estimates come from a consultancy report that was already over a decade old when it was quoted.[2]
What both statements agree on is the direction and the diagnosis. Indonesian patients with means travel, principally to Malaysia and Singapore, and the government attributes this to domestic capacity, specifically a shortage of specialist and sub-specialist doctors rather than of buildings or equipment. That diagnosis, coming from the president while standing in a hospital he described as having qualified facilities, is the most substantive claim in the Indonesian record.[1]
Indonesia as a destination
Indonesia has also sought to become a destination, and Bali in particular is promoted for wellness and increasingly for medical treatment. No figure for foreign patients treated in Indonesia was located in any source consulted, and none has been estimated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists cosmetic surgery, dental care, cancer treatment, fertility treatment and organ transplantation as the procedures most often sought abroad, notes that some highly resistant bacteria and fungi including Candida auris appear more common in some countries where patients seek care, and recommends screening for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales after an overnight stay in a foreign healthcare facility within six months. It states that accreditation does not guarantee a good outcome.[3]
Limits of the evidence
No Indonesian health ministry statistical publication, national statistics agency series or hospital capacity dataset was located, so no bed, physician or specialist figures appear here. Both headline figures are political statements reported in the press. The consultancy figures behind them could not be examined. No figure for inbound patients was found. Whether the reforms announced in 2021 changed the outbound numbers could not be established. Nothing has been estimated.
See also
- Medical tourism in Singapore, the destination for 750,000 of them
- Outbound medical tourism, the direction Indonesian policy addresses
- Medical tourism and balance of payments statistics, the frame the Rp 165 trillion figure uses
- Medical tourism and health system capacity, the stated cause
- Medical tourism and health workforce migration, given the specialist shortage
References
- Tempo. Jokowi says nearly 2 million Indonesians seek healthcare abroad. Published 6 March 2023. Independently reported: the report was opened and President Joko Widodo’s statement that he is informed that almost 2 million Indonesians still go abroad for treatment when they are sick, the attribution of that statement to 6 March 2023, the occasion of an impromptu visit to Mayapada Hospital in Bandung, West Java, to monitor its medical facilities and equipment, the destination breakdown of about 1 million to Malaysia and 750,000 to Singapore with the rest to Japan, the United States, Germany and other countries, the figure of Rp 165 trillion in lost foreign exchange revenue attributed by the president to capital outflow, his statement that the hospital has qualified facilities and buildings but that there are still not enough specialist doctors or sub-specialist doctors, and his statement that he had asked the health minister to address this were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- The Jakarta Post. Health Minister Budi seeks to curb outbound medical tourism. Published 13 December 2021. Independently reported: the report was opened and Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin’s statement that healthcare reforms were expected in part to reduce the number of citizens going abroad for treatment, his quoted words about not having 600,000 Indonesians going to other ASEAN countries just to have medical check-ups, his citation of PwC data for that figure with no year given, the policy measures of increasing hospital bed numbers especially in eastern Indonesia and improving the quality of medical services and equipment with no numerical targets, the citation of a 2009 Frost and Sullivan report estimating Indonesian healthcare spending of SGD 800 million a year in Singapore and MYR 160 million a year in Malaysia over the preceding three years and describing total outbound medical spending as costing hundreds of millions of United States dollars a year in lost business, the absence of any official government spending statistics, and the absence of any figures for hospital beds, doctors or specialists were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- Stoney, R. J. and Leidel, L. Medical Tourism. CDC Yellow Book: Health Information for International Travel, 2026 edition, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Page dated 23 April 2025. Independently reported: the chapter was opened and the listing of cosmetic surgery, dental care, cancer treatment, fertility treatment and organ transplantation as the procedures most often sought abroad, the note that highly resistant bacteria and fungi including Candida auris appear more common in some countries where patients seek care, the recommendation to screen for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales after an overnight stay in a foreign healthcare facility within six months, and the statement that accreditation does not guarantee a good outcome were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
Sourcing note: the two official figures are reported side by side with the fact that they differ more than threefold stated in the status line and the infobox, and the entry explains what each counts rather than choosing one or averaging them. Both are identified as political statements reported in the press, not statistical series, and the consultancy origins behind them are named along with their age. The framing of the money figure as a foreign exchange loss is identified as a framing. Nothing has been estimated.